At least four mid-level leaders of the banned New Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh militant faction, the group behind the July 1 Dhaka terror attack, have sneaked into India, Bangladesh police said.
The police, after raiding different places to arrest leaders and supporters of New JMB group, said that at least four out of 12 mid-level JMB leaders have sneaked into India while others remain out of their radar. The Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh follows the ideology of Islamic State.
"Four of them left the country after the Gulshan attack and have now been staying in India," a high official of the police's Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, requesting anonymity, confirmed to the Dhaka Tribune.
Police also said the New JMB leaders have been recruiting fresh members amid a police crackdown that began after the July 1 Gulshan cafe attack.
law enforcers have killed over three dozens of New JMB members including its military and operations chief Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, mastermind of the Dhaka cafe attack, and his close associates since the Holey Artisan Bakery attack that claimed the lives of at least 24 persons, mostly foreigners.
Identities of the 12 mid-level leaders, including a woman, were found after interrogating several arrested members of the group and examining the laptop of Tamim Chowdhury recovered from his den in Narayanganj, police said.
The four who have fled to India are identified as Sohel Mahfuz alias Hatkata Mahfuz, Ripon, Khalid and so-called "big brother" Junayed Hasan Khan.